October Break
by gray03
Summary: They're not friends, but sometimes they're friendly.


Title: October Break

Author: Karolyn Gray

Fandom: Haven

Summary: They're not friends, but sometimes they're friendly.

Main characters: Nathan Wuornos, Duke Crocker

Rating: T

Warnings: N/A

Spoilers: S1 Post Resurfacing

Beta: N/A

Word Count: 4,500+

Disclaimer: Haven, characters, and related indicia is owned and copyrighted by E1 Entertainment, Syfy, NBCUniversal, and Stephen King and all related parties. No copyright infringement is intended. This is a work of fan based fiction and is not endorsed or affiliated in any way, shape, or form to the owners and/or copyright holders.

Author's Notes: I'm not completely pleased with the results of my first Haven fanfic, but I've wrangled around with it about as much as I'm able. I hope you like it.

**October Break**

_by Karolyn Gray_

Duke sat back in his chair taking a gulp from his beer bottle as he watched Detective Nathan Wuornos scrape the pot towards himself, thousands of counterfeit dollars. Duke felt a slight itch of annoyance at the sight, even knowing the paper was worthless. If the money had been real he would've put more of an effort into playing the game.

Seeing the cop deftly shuffle the cards with well practiced ease Duke paused on his second gulp. Maybe the oft rumored Haven PD poker games were true. The time he had asked Nathan he received a patented 'Nathany' look in return that, while neither confirming nor denying said games existed, promised an unending stream of expensive parking tickets and unwanted attention from the harbor master if Duke inquired further.

Asking Audrey had earned him a knowing look from the FBI agent along with some less than convincing claims of ignorance. Her reaction merely confirmed to him that she wasn't quite 'in' with the local cops to be invited to the games yet but was well aware of its occurrence. He imagined Audrey would take every thing they had if she were in the game.

Duke chuckled to himself at the thought as set his bottle down. "Another hand?"

"Sure."

Duke almost missed Nathan's brief glance towards the parking lot, nearly hidden by the man's noncommittal shrug before he dealt out the cards in a way that merely confirmed Duke's suspicions on Haven PD's card games. Lot's of practice there, he decided. That brief glance though made him curious.

Looking over to the parking lot he spotted Audrey's car turning on to the road and head towards her rental. As he returned his gaze to Nathan he was actually surprised the cop hadn't said anything about his partner's departure.

"Are you going after her?" Duke asked.

Nathan shook his head as he fiddled with his cards a bit. "Nope. She needs time."

"For what?" Duke asked hoping to figure out whatever Nathan had apparently picked up on that he missed.

"Don't know."

Duke rolled his eyes at the monotone answer as he swept up his cards. Somehow the feeling of normalcy the game had started with had shriveled away leaving behind an unsettling feeling in Duke's gut, a feeling that merely added to his annoyance. One look and he shook his head in disgust at his pathetic hand, venting some of his irritation at the bad hand and the situation towards his usual favorite target. "Well, that's helpful, Nate. _Really_."

It felt less satisfying than usual as Nathan shrugged in reply, face inscrutable as ever. Nathan's demeanor made Duke want to make some snarky comment at the cop's expense. He held his tongue at the exaggeratedly calm look on the other man's face. Besides, why ruin their uneasy truce and just enjoy the moment? Sure it had only been for a short time but it had felt strangely comfortable sitting there playing cards with a guy he was supposed to hate.

"All right, ten thousand," Duke tossed the money from his stack onto the table, earning an amused expression from Nathan.

"Wimp," Nathan taunted with the slightest of grins.

"Put your money where your mouth is, Nate."

"You did _not_ just say that," Nathan mocked with a short laugh as he tossed more bills into the pile.

For the briefest instant when Nathan dropped his eyes back to his cards, Duke saw the flash of emotion there. Duke doubted many would ever notice it given Nathan's usual stoic demeanor, but Duke had seen it directed at Audrey enough times of late to recognize it for what it was: friendship. He had once been the recipient of the look too, but that was a time best forgotten. It left him oddly pleased for the cop and irritated at the same time. To see it aimed at him, however briefly, after so much time and bad blood was a bit of a surprise.

He and Nathan never were really friends, but there was a time when things had been different and friendship could change as quickly as a storm at sea.

[-Haven-]

It was October when once more things changed in nine year old Duke Crocker's life. For two years there had been a pall over his home town of Haven. Horrific stories and whispers about death, injuries, and mayhem. All of it was attributed to the Troubles and the strange people given terrible monikers like 'the Afflicted' or 'the Troubled'. He had been repeatedly warned to stay away from such people. But how could he avoid the Troubled when he had known one of them since he was five and had yet to see said Troubled person harm anyone?

Most days Duke tried not to think much about Nathan Wuornos save when there was a prank to pull on the gangly looking classmate. Sure Duke nodded in greeting or even talked to him when few were about to see them together. Sometimes he would even asked Nate to help him with school work knowing the other boy was smart and picked things up a lot faster than some of the other kids in class. Duke as a rule didn't let his general wariness of the other boy stop him from asking for help when he needed it.

They'd been friends once until Nate got sick. Duke still didn't quite understand what had happened to his former friend to make him unable to feel. At first it had seemed like a cool thing, something to be envious of. Nate didn't feel heat or cold or pain. It had been fun seeing what he could do even if their antics led to more than one scolding and punishment to go along with their bruises and scrapes.

But then Duke started hearing adults talk about Nate with ominous tones and words like 'freak' and 'troubled'. Stories of the Troubles terrified Duke, especially the gruesome ones his father told him where innocent regular people got hurt or worse just being around them. When other kids started getting hurt imitating Nate's stunts, Duke started to believe his dad was right. So he drove Nate away with cruel teasing, loud taunting, and feigned indifference. His once smiling friend disappeared until only a quiet, stoic boy remained.

Lately Duke had started to feel a nagging guilt when Nate ended up the victim of a particularly cruel joke. That guilt was at its greatest when Nate would just look at him with a strangely sad but accepting expression or when Nate would readily talk to or play with Duke or the other kids after a particularly cruel trick, desperate to be accepted as a normal kid.

It made Duke ashamed and he sometimes worried that someday Nate would finally have enough of the taunts, the teasing, and the snide comments. He didn't think Nate would be cruel, but everyone had a point when pushed they pushed back, right? He had seen it in small things Nate did.

No, Nate was never cruel but he had other ways of getting back at his bullies. Duke had learned that at the dodge ball game in gym a few weeks back that had gone awry. He and his friends had planned to gang up on Nate and get him knocked out of the game early on. Nate had handily taken Duke and his friends out during the game and left them idling the period away. Nate went on to win the game much to the gym teacher's surprise and the amusement of the rest of the class. Duke swore he could still feel the painful sting where Nate had spiked the ball as hard as he could on his back.

For the past couple of days whenever he saw Nate, Duke something in his blue eyes that gave him pause. It wasn't anything he could put words to. Nate didn't act any different than usual. He was pretty quiet and kept to himself when his two friends Joe and Stu weren't around. He ate lunch, studied, and played with his friends and classmates just like everyone else, avoided the girls in the class (something Duke commiserated with), was well liked by most of the teachers and the principal (making him a teacher's pet in Duke's eyes), and was pretty adept at avoiding the school bully, Toby Richards (something Duke himself had come to excel at).

Duke was waiting with some of his friends for Nate to finish cleaning out the milk carton he'd snuck out of the cafeteria. They had asked Nate and his friends if they wanted to help collect some bugs. All of them knew Nate was the best when they went collecting bugs, lizards, or worms. He was patient and good at spotting them. Neither was he afraid of them or grossed out or minded the occasional scratch, scrape or bug bite from trying to catch them.

"Come on, Nate!" Stu yelled back as some of their group left but Nate vaguely waved back gesturing for them to go ahead before turning on the drinking fountain to clean out the small carton in his hand.

"Jeez, Nate is such a dope," Tim whined, scuffing his shoes on the concrete. "He's just standing there letting the water run."

"Yeah, what a weirdo," Another of Duke's friends, David, put in.

"Oh, knock it off. He's just making sure it's clean. That's all," Jaime McClusky, the resident tomboy of their little group, chided them. Duke couldn't help but laugh when Jaime slugged David in the arm for making kissing noises and protested she did _not_ like Nathan Wuornos. She didn't sound convinced of her own words to Duke's ears but he held his tongue. Jaime could hit pretty hard for a girl.

While his friends continued to tease one another, Duke looked over at Nate puzzled at seeing the other boy standing there watching the water trickle from the milk carton over his fingers as the water fountain overflowed. He'd seen Nate do that before but never for more than a couple of seconds. This time though Nate seemed transfixed with a slight curling of the lips in what looked to be a rare smile.

"Hey, watch this."

Before Duke even realized it Tim ran off. Duke's eyes widened in shock as Tim headed towards Toby Richards, resident school bully.

While only a fourth grader Toby had been held back a grade and was large for his size. Worse, he enjoyed using his greater size to harass other kids and had no qualms about beating up anyone he felt deserved it. Duke himself had been one of Toby's targets back in first grade and had made a point of avoiding Toby whenever possible since then.

Tim shadowed Toby's pace and once the bully stopped by the drinking fountain Nathan stood at, Tim ran up and shoved Nathan before quickly running away. Water splashed all over Toby and Nathan, who immediately scrambled backwards when Toby turned around.

"You're dead, worm." Toby pushed Nathan to the ground and Duke found himself following the others to watch the unfolding drama, that sick feeling in his gut returning.

Nathan was quickly on his feet trying to back away, apologizing the whole time. "I'm sorry, Toby."

When Nate got close to them Tim shoved the boy back at the bully. "Get him, Nate."

Some of the other kids added their own cheers egging Toby on. When Nate tried to back out again, Tim shoved him even harder. This time Toby caught Nate and hit him twice, knocking him to the ground.

Nate's howl of pain the made everyone fall silent. Even Toby stopped his advance looking surprised. For a moment all that could be heard were Nate's whimpers as he spat, blood dotting the concrete.

Tim started laughing which emboldened some of the others to laugh as well. Most of the kids looked scared and remained silent and unmoving.

Toby merely scowled. "You ain't hurt. Get up."

The bully kicked at Nate but missed when the smaller boy scuttled sideways. Reaching down to grab him, there was blur of movement on Nate's part and a sickening cracking sound. Toby fell backwards clutching his nose, crying as blood spurted between his fingers. In moments, Nate was on him pummeling away, making up for a lack of strength with a flurry of well aimed punches.

Duke just stood in shock watching Nate Wuornos hit Toby over and over. The level of violence Nate was unleashing as he beat Toby scared him, but it scared him more to think what would happen if he didn't do something.

"We gotta break 'em up," Jaime said, apparently as concerned as he.

Nodding in agreement, the pair quickly grabbed Nate and pulled him off Toby, who was crying and begging Nate to stop. Nate struggled with them, still trying to get in a kick or two on Toby until the voice of Mrs Kengle, the fourth grade teacher could be heard demanding what was going. The arrival of a teacher sent most of the students scattering, but not Duke or Jaime. He could see Jaime was scared and nodded for her to leave since Nate was now just standing there staring at Toby with a blank expression.

"Toby Richards, I should have known," Mrs Kengle remarked disapprovingly. Looking over Duke and Nathan she shook her head. "You three, Principal's office. Now."

"But I didn't do anything," Duke started to protest.

"Now, Duke Crocker!"

"Duke didn't do anything, Mrs Kengle," Nathan suddenly piped up, sounding small and tired as he absently rubbed his left hand.

"You be quiet, Nathan, and go to the Principal now. You've been nothing but trouble since you got sick," Ms Kengle said snidely. "Maybe he'll finally get rid of you. Do you want that?"

Nate looked down miserably and whispered his reply. "No, ma'am."

"Go on then."

[-Haven-]

Duke casually swung his feet back and forth as he sat on the bench waiting for his father to show up. It had been several hours since the fight and school had let out a short time ago. Most of that time for Duke had been retelling what happened to Principal Franks three times and then being sent to wait out in the office. He was bored despite his nervousness over what his parents might say to his getting into trouble again. He'd tried to explain what happened at the fight: how it started, and how he tried to break it up at the end, but no one believed him despite Nate surprisingly backing him up.

He supposed he didn't deserve to be believed given the tack incident the previous year that got him suspended from school for a week.

He knew Nate hadn't been to school for a week after the tack incident too. Some kids said it was because his dad had punished him but Duke knew otherwise. His mom had a friend who worked at the hospital and had learned Nate had gone to see a doctor in Bangor. For Duke it had been a long, worrying week wondering if he was going to be in trouble if it turned out Nate had been seriously injured in the incident. Once Nate had returned to school looking as normal as ever Duke felt his fears fall away, even if he did stay away from Nate and his hate filled glares for several weeks afterward.

A small sound to the far side of the bench drew his attention to Nate sitting there slumped over and cradling his left hand to his chest with his chin tucked in and eyes squeezed shut. The dark bruising around his eye was already darkening to ugly purple-black bruise where Toby's fist hand landed and his lower lip was swollen around the cut there. He looked a little pale, his breath hard and uneven, almost like he was…crying?

Duke shook the thought off. Nate didn't feel anything. He was probably just worried about what his cop father was going to do.

Idly watching the little red hand on the wall clock tick the seconds away to minutes, Duke fiddled around with his fingers a bit as he tried to listen to the voices in the principal's office. Anything was better than thinking about his father's warning about what punishment he'd get if he got into trouble again, especially if it involved Nate. The voices were muffled and indistinct but he thought he heard his name in there.

He sighed, resigned that Toby was going to try and convince his parents and the principal everything that happened was Duke's fault. Or Nate's. Given Duke's history, he knew the blame would fall to him.

Another sound from Nate got his attention, this time he was fast enough see Nate quickly wipe the corner of his eye with the elbow of his flannel shirt. Alarmed, Duke scooted over across the bench to other boy, who startled away nearly falling off the edge of the bench.

"Hey, you okay?"

Duke wasn't surprised when Nathan didn't say anything, just stared at him with distrustful eyes. When Duke saw the flash of pain cross Nate's face, he glanced down at the hand he was cradling noticing it had swollen up pretty badly.

He wondered if it was possible that Nate could feel the bruise on his face and his swelling hand? The same hand that had knocked out two of Toby Richard's teeth and gave him a bloody nose.

"You're hand hurts, doesn't it?" Duke asked carefully.

Nathan shivered, looking uncertain before slowly nodding. Duke just sat there stunned.

"How long?"

Nate's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What?"

"How long have you…felt?" Duke asked uncertainly. It wasn't like he and Nate were friends but he didn't like the idea that some of the stuff he and his friends had done to the strange kid may have actually hurt him.

After a while, Nate finally answered him. "I don't know. I felt funny all week."

Duke swallowed nervously. "You felt Toby hit you."

Nate looked down and nodded. "I didn't mean it."

"Mean what?" Duke was confused.

Nate glanced at him before staring down at the cheap linoleum floor. "To hurt Toby."

"He deserved it," Duke said, earning a surprised look from Nate. Duke grinned suddenly. "You sure clobbered him good."

"I guess." Nate looked down and shrugged at that, though Duke spotted what appeared to be a small smile on his lips. Duke noticed Nate wince again when he ran a finger over his swollen hand.

"You hurt your hand. I'm going to tell Nurse Mary," Duke announced, hopping off the bench.

"No!"

Nate's panicked voice stopped Duke in his tracks.

"But you said it hurts. You're not supposed to…," Duke trailed off, feeling oddly embarrassed. "I mean, you don't normally feel anything. Maybe you're really hurt bad."

"I'm okay. It'll go away," Nate shook his head, sounding uncertain. When he winced again that was enough for Duke.

"I'm getting the nurse."

Nurse Mary, also the school's secretary, was surprisingly easy to convince to check on Nate. Duke told her he saw the other boy crying knowing she had a soft spot for the kids that came to her with their school yard scrapes. She took one look at Nate and whisked him away to the nurse's office, thanking Duke as she guided the injured boy out of the room.

Duke felt good about Nurse Mary's words as he sat back down swinging his feet to and fro once more.

His happiness faded to trepidation when the old main door to the office squeaked open and a police officer came in looking stone faced and impressive in his uniform. As the officer passed by he glanced down at Duke who sat up taller and swallowed nervously at seeing the nameplate on his uniform. He'd heard stories about Nate's dad being a tough cop, but until this moment hadn't really believed them. He suddenly felt sorry for Nate thinking maybe his own dad wasn't so bad in comparison.

Duke watched the police officer huff in annoyance when he saw no one was at the secretary's desk.

"Nate's with the nurse," Duke heard himself saying. He wanted to kick himself the moment the words left his mouth for drawing attention to himself.

"What?" Officer Wuornos fixed his gaze on Duke.

Duke pointed to the closed door of the nurse's office. "Nate's with the nurse."

Duke noticed something pass across the policeman's face, concern and maybe relief, before it settled into a neutral expression. "You're Crocker's boy, right?"

"Um, yes, sir."

Duke could tell the cop was going to ask him a question and never felt more relieved when he saw Principal Franks leading Toby and his parents out of his office. Toby looked at the floor rather than at his glaring father and tight-lipped mother, his nose looking swollen and red, stuffed with cotton turning pink. He sported a number of small bruises starting to show up on his cheek and jaw. Duke found himself impressed by Nate's handy work, biting his tongue to stop himself from making a comment.

"If this happens again, I'll be forced to expel Toby. I hope your understand, Kyle," Principal Franks was saying.

"Oh, there won't be anymore trouble. Will there Toby?" Kyle Richards' voice was practically a growl.

"No, sir."

"Come on. We're going home." With that the Richards left seemingly never noticing Officer Wuornos or Duke watching the exchange.

Franks shook hands with Officer Wuornos. "I'm sorry to have to call you out here, Garland, but I can't have the boys fighting. Toby Richards admitted to starting the fight. Nate was defending himself but you saw what he did. I've decided to not suspend him for this incident. But it can't happen again."

"Well, I appreciate that, Jim. I'll have a talk with Nate about this," Officer Wuornos said, looking somewhat relieved. "So, he's okay?"

"Oh, he's fine," Principal Franks assured him. A slight smile came to his face. "Frankly, Garl, I've been hoping one of the kids would put that Richards boy in his place. Just didn't think it would be your son. He's going to have a nice shiner, but other than that he's fine."

"Then why is Nate with the nurse?"

Duke would have laughed at the surprised look on Principal Franks' face if it wasn't for the cool tone to the cop's question.

"What? He was…," Franks looked at Duke and then the bench as if expecting Nate to magically appear.

"His hand was hurting so I got Miss Mary to look at it," Duke supplied, helpfully pointing to the room and feeling inordinately pleased with the sour expression his words brought to the Principal's face.

"Duke, uh, thanks," Franks seemed flustered under the hard scrutiny of Officer Wuornos. "Duke, Toby said you weren't involved so you can go on home now."

Duke took Franks dismissive tone to mean they hadn't been able to get a hold of his parents, which was a common enough occurrence, and he didn't see the point of doing so now that Duke had been cleared of wrong doing. Unfortunately it was late in the afternoon and Duke knew he'd already be in trouble for getting home late from school. Resigned to being punished Duke was out the door in a flash but stopped after hopping his way down the steps as he decided whether to go back to the classroom to get his school bag or not.

Duke heard the door close behind him with Officer Wuornos saying something about going to the doctor. He turned to see Nate holding his left arm wrapped in gauze and what looked like an icepack on his hand. His dad's hand was gently guiding him by the shoulder. Duke could see Nate felt a lot better and nodded once to the other boy as he passed. He was surprised when Nate smiled back in return.

"Duke, is it?"

Duke nodded at Officer Wuornos' sudden question. "Yes, sir."

He wasn't sure what too think of the intent look Nate's dad was giving him. After a moment an easy smile came to the man's face.

"Gettin' late. Need a ride home?"

"Uh…,"

Officer Wuornos waved him over gesturing to the police car waiting at the curb. "Yeah, you do. I think both you boys'll fit up front. Come on."

Duke decided the trip to his house was strange but good. Nate's dad didn't seem mad, just asked Nate how he felt and how the fight started. He even asked Duke what he had seen. Being a cop, Duke figured.

They'd quickly moved on to discuss dinner, schoolwork, and some fishing trip potentially being cancelled which seemed to dampen Nate's spirits a little before Duke asked why the lady dispatcher on the police radio called him 'honey' when he'd signed off from a call. The question left Officer Wuornos flustered and fumbling for an answer while Nate laughed. By the time they reached Duke's home, Nate's dad had them giggling as he told them a silly story of arresting a drunk, half naked fisherman down at the harbor.

"Thanks for the ride, Officer Wuornos," Duke said after climbing out onto the old, cracked sidewalk.

"Not a problem, Duke," he replied easily. "You have any problems with your dad about this, you just tell him to call me, 'kay?"

"Yes, sir." Duke assured him, even though he had no intention of doing so. His dad disliked Officer Wuornos for some reason.

"Thanks, Duke," Nate said.

Duke shrugged, feeling a little weird at Nathan's gratefulness given the grief he'd given him in the past. "I hope your hand is all right. I'll see you tomorrow."

Seeing his mom step out on the porch, Duke hastily waved. "Later, gator."

"In a while, crocodile."

Duke actually laughed at that. He'd heard the phrase a dozen times before, of course, but at that moment it just seemed right for Nate to banter with him like they were best buddies. With a quick wave he trotted to the porch and the puzzled, slightly concerned face of his mother.

[-Haven-]

"What?" Nathan asked suspiciously as he looked up from his cards to see Duke staring at him.

"Nothing. Just remembering when you beat up Toby Richards," Duke replied easily.

"Toby Richards?"

"You know, third grade. School bully."

"Oh right." A small half smile crossed Nathan's face. "I didn't beat him up. Toby and I were good friends until his family moved to Bangor in junior high."

"Yeah, _after_ you beat him up," Duke pointed out.

Nathan just shook his head and put his ante into the rapidly growing pot. Duke carelessly matched it figuring at the rate the game was going they'd be done in an hour. It's not October and they're certainly not kids out hunting bugs anymore, but it suddenly feels completely normal to be hanging out together.

What Nathan said was true about Toby becoming his friend. Nate hadn't returned to school for the rest of the week after the fight. When he did show up the following Monday it was with a cast encasing his left arm but by then it was all over town that Nate had been cured of whatever had made him numb.

When Nate had walked past Duke and his friends, Tim started to tease him as he usually did. Instead of rushing by like he had in the past, Nate had stopped, turned on them with a challenging look, and told Tim to shut up. Tim had started towards Nate when Toby, also back from suspension, suddenly showed up and threatened to beat Tim up if he ever bothered Nate again.

Duke had actually laughed at that, causing Tim to slink away, while he asked Nate if he could sign the cast first. Toby got that honor in the end, but Nate had let Duke draw a little cartoon balloon with the words "Ka-Pow" across the knuckles. It had been a thaw in their relationship that had turned into a casual, often rocky, quasi-friendship of sorts through junior high and high school until Nathan's affliction had returned. He wasn't even sure if it could even be called friendship given their near infamous rows but he had something of an answer now.

"I wonder whatever happened to Jaime McClusky?" Nathan suddenly wondered aloud. "She moved away when I was in college, didn't she?"

Duke winced slightly, realizing Nathan had no idea what had happened. Over time, Jaime had drifted away from Duke and his friends and started hanging out more with Nathan and his friends around fifth grade. Nathan and Jaime had remained somewhat close throughout high school but surprised many, Duke included, by never dating. Nathan had been away at college when the accident occurred.

Duke sighed, pushing aside the suddenly unappealing beer he'd been nursing. "She died in a car accident. Drunk driver."

Nathan just stared at him for a moment before nodding once in understanding. Everyone assumed Nathan knew what had happened in spite his efforts to stay away from Haven while in college aside from showing up once a year in late December for the holidays. Duke suspected Nathan, like himself, hadn't planned on ever coming back to their home town. Like life, plans changed, and here they were.

"You know, I am sorry about the tacks," Duke paused for a moment's thought. "And the rest."

"Don't really remember much of back then. Crazy times," Nathan muttered while studiously concentrating on his cards.

Duke just stared at Nathan, doubting the cop's words given his sometime freakishly detailed memory of their childhood. Duke was tempted to push the matter but he took Nathan's words as a warning to let the matter drop, allowing his thoughts to drift back to the subject of friendship.

Were they friends? Duke shook his head.

They're not friends, but he suspects he's no longer on Nathan Wuornos' metaphorical hit list. Or at least has been bumped down a few notches by whatever is going on with Nathan, Audrey and Haven now that the Troubles are back. It almost feels like they're kids again, with friendships once more as shifting and changing as quickly as stormy seas. The question really was what would remain once the storm passed.

For now, Duke has an answer. No. They're not friends, but sometimes they're friendly. And maybe that was good enough.

Fin.


End file.
